Senior Marks & Spencer executive has spoken in favour of re-invigorating High Street shopping.

Linda Szpala, who is based in London told Bradford Textile Society that there should not be just out-of-town shopping development.

She said that could alienate a lot of customers. There needed to be balanced development with careful consideration of what was happening in the High Street.

Praising Yorkshire skills and reliability Miss Szpala, technical manager of Marks & Spencers' men's and ladies tailoring, said that fabric sales to her firm from the region for the coming autumn season were about £15 million.

Forecasting that competition would intensify with the anticipated removal of world-wide tariffs and trade barriers, she added: "To retain our competitive edge we must constantly challenge what we are doing and continue to acquire the knowledge to create new products and extend the life-cycle of existing ones."

She said Marks & Spencer was working on new processes including having more climate control to give fabric a quality which could keep a person warm when it was cold or vice-versa, an anti-bacterial factor to keep clothing fresh, sun protection and new comfort finishes.

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